4 Simple Steps to Successful Delegation
Copyright 2005 Inez Ng
Last month, my featured article was about creating a “Stop
Doing” list. Hopefully, if you followed my suggestion, you
now have a list of tasks that you are looking to delegate
away. It seems a natural progression that I now disclose a
few simple steps that will ensure your foray into
delegation is a success.
1. Choose the right “delegatee”
Review the task and determine what skills are required.
Delegation goes much more smoothly if you match the person
with the appropriate skill set to the task you have to
assign. Now if you don’t have a candidate that has all the
skills you are looking for, decide which is the most
critical one (analytical ability, attention to detail,
communications skills) and make that match.
One of the rewards of delegation is the opportunity to help
someone develop and grow. It is unlikely that you will
always have a candidate that you can hand off something to
and not have to provide some training or coaching. But
learning to empower your employees will reap big rewards as
their confidence grows with their abilities, and delegation
becomes easier and easier, and your “Stop Doing” list gets
longer and longer.
2. State your expectations clearly
When you assign a task, be very clear about the
deliverables you expect, and qualify your expectations as
much as possible. As a minimum, you need to communicate
the “what” and the “when”. For example: “I want these
invoices entered into my database by 5pm tomorrow”. Then,
start adding qualifications to your request, such as:
“Please make sure that the expense categories are correct,
and if you are unsure, ask me and I will clarify for you
because I want the reports to be accurate.”
In addition to communicating about the “what” and “when” of
an assignment, I recommend that you also include
information on the “why”. For example: “I need the
monthly recap report done by 5pm tomorrow because I have a
meeting with client X the following morning and need the
information, so it is really critical that I have it.”
Often, we assume that others should know what we expect.
But if you have a new working relationship with someone,
that is probably an unfair expectation. So, take a few
minutes to think about what you need to communicate to save
both of you a lot of aggravation, and possibly rework.
3. Choose an appropriate oversight level
No one wants to work for a micro-manager, but some managers
are too hands-off when it is inappropriate. Note the
skills and experience level of your employee and adjust
your oversight level accordingly. The first couple of
times they handle a complicated task, you may want to check
in more frequently. After a few months, you could probably
ease off on your involvement as their knowledge and
confidence increases.
4. Provide feedback effectively and often
Once in a while, we get really lucky and have someone
supporting us who does things perfectly the first time.
But that scenario doesn’t happen too often. However, we
can get the employee to the perfection level by providing
appropriate feedback. Tell them very specifically what
they did well (“Your accuracy is great. I rarely, if ever,
find a mistake in your work. Keep it up.”), and what they
need to improve on (“I really needed the monthly recap
report for Company X done yesterday. I had a meeting with
them this morning, and was not able to provide them with
the latest information. That reflects poorly on my
service. I need you to let me know when you cannot meet a
deadline I have given you. Will you do that?”)
Specific, constructive feedback is the most effective way
to improve performance. Even if you have a “star”
employee, you still need to provide the feedback so that
they will maintain their high level of performance. Work
on giving more positive feedback. If the only time you
provide feedback is when you are unhappy, your employees
are not going to be very eager to talk with you.
Follow these simple steps and dive right into delegation.
As you become more successful in delegating, you will feel
more confident in adding to your “Stop Doing” list. Then
use your time on something much more impactful for your
business, or much more pleasurable for you.
:
Leadership coach Inez Ng helps busy professionals and
entrepreneurs get better results quickly. Learn more about
coaching with her at
http://www.realizationsunltd.com
Want to learn how to spend less time managing email? Check
out her ebook at http://www.easyemailstrategies.com
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